The Controversy Continues…

…over the death of seven Palestinians in Gaza, allegedly as a result of shelling by the Israeli military. Israel says the casualties were caused by the explosion of buried ordnance; several British newspapers have attacked the Israeli account. Now, the German newspaper Sud Deutsche has analyzed footage shot by Zakaria Abu Irbad, a cameramen with the Palestinian news agency Ramattan, who was the first journalist on the scene, and whose film was distributed worldwide. Sud Deutsche finds inconsistencies in the Palestinian version, and even indications that the episode may have been staged:

The newspaper said in footage of the beach taken by an IDF drone at the time of the attack, five craters left by IDF artillery shells could be seen, but that 250 meters away people could also be seen.

The paper said it is strange that although shells exploded 250 meters away from a beach site where Palestinian families congregated, no one was seen running away or panicking.

Moreover, if Irbad was the first to get to the scene, why were most bodies covered by sheets? Who was there first to cover the bodies? The newspaper asked.

The newspaper also doubts Irbad’s claim that Hadil [the ten-year-old girl whose father was killed in the explosion, and whose tearful face was broadcast world-wide] was not injured because she was in the water when the shell exploded. His footage show her dry and fully clothed.

Another question raised by the newspaper is a shot of a man carrying a rifle next to the dead body of Hadil’s father. The newspaper said in earlier footage, the same man was seen lying on the beach among the injured.

This is the one that I found convincing:

The newspaper said Irbad evaded most of the questions addressed to him.

Asked why he didn’t try to calm Hadil instead of filming her he said: “She asked me to film her. She wanted to be seen next to her father to show the world the crimes that Israel is committing.”

UPDATE: A surgeon who operated on one of the victims of the blast reports:

There is now incontrovertible proof that Israel did not cause the tragedy – shell fragments extracted from one bomb victim match the types of bombs made by Hamas – and not Israeli artillery shells. How do I know? I received the victim last Sunday (at 2:00 am), operated on her until 5am, and have re-operated every night since. Now she’s out of danger, and will survive to rejoin her family.